Could someone please come up with an online tax calculator that includes all of each of John McCain's and Barack Obama's tax proposals? I wrote a few weeks ago about how alchemytoday.com came up with a tax calculator using data from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Yesterday the Obama campaign came out with a tax calculator on its own website showing how much your own taxes will be under his plan.

I got a flurry of comments on the old post saying how Obama's tax calculator wasn't non-partisan. Um, yeah, I realize that. That's why I sent readers to this non-partisan tax calculator.

I still think we need a more comprehensive, non-partisan tax calculator that takes into account the various sources of income and deductions. (Though, the more complex a calculator is, the more it's like really doing your taxes and so unappealing.)

Using numbers from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, the website AlchemyToday came up with a calculator to see how much Barack Obama would raise your taxes. It's a nifty device that should help clarify for people the big differences in economic policy in this election.

Are you making less than $603,000? If so, Obama isn't going to raise your taxes, the data show.

According to a Gallup Poll, 53% of Americans think Obama is going to raise their taxes, compared with just 34% who suspect the same of McCain. That means that at least 48% of Americans don't really understand what Obama is going to do and one-third don't understand what McCain is proposing. Where would so many people get the crazy idea that Obama's secret plan is to raise taxes? Well, it could be because John McCain tells them that every chance he gets.

Currently, capital gains tax rates are more favorable than regular income tax rates. That's why it's important for taxpayers who own stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or certain other investments to pay attention to the rules.

Favorable capital gains rates apply when the taxpayer has held the investment for more than a year, referred to as "long-term." If you hold an investment less than a full year, you don't get capital gains rates. So it's important when you're selling an investment to look at how long you've held it. You may want to hold it just a little longer if you're close to a full year of ownership.

What is the capital gains tax rate? If you're in a higher tax bracket, the capital gains rate is 15%. If you're in a lower tax bracket, the capital gains rate is only 5%. There are some exceptions to these rules, but these will apply to most taxpayers.

It pays to look carefully at your holding period for an investment. You could save yourself a significant amount of tax by ensuring that you've got a long-term holding period and are therefore able to get the benefit of capital gains tax rates on that investment. More information on Capital Gains can be found on the IRS website.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.